Confession taped after teen slain shown

ORLANDO -- A teenager accused of murdering a middle school classmate detailed the slaying in a videotaped confession, saying he "slit his throat" and stabbed him in the back of the neck and temple.

On the tape that was shown in court Monday, 14-year-old Michael Hernandez admitted he lured his eighth grade classmate Jaime Gough into a school bathroom stall by telling Gough he had something to show him.

Hernandez told him to turn around and that he was going to place his latex-gloved left hand over his mouth.

"I took the knife out and proceeded to slit his throat left to right," Hernandez said in a monotone to Miami-Dade Homicide Detective Sal Garafalo. "He turned around and asked me not to kill him."

Hernandez said he told Gough he wouldn't kill him if he cooperated. But Hernandez told Garafalo that was a lie.

"I proceeded to stab him, basically in the back of the neck and his temple," Hernandez said.

The 30-minute confession was taped Feb. 3, 2004, more than 12 hours after Gough was found dead in the second-floor stall at Southwood Middle School. In it, he also said he planned to kill another boy.

The confession is a key piece of evidence in Hernandez' first-degree murder trial that started last week. It was moved to Orlando because of extensive pretrial publicity in Miami.

Defense attorney Richard Rosenbaum contends that Hernandez, now 18, is mentally ill and insane and not criminally responsible for his actions.

Assistant Miami-Dade State Attorney Carin Kahgan has argued that Hernandez planned the slaying and kept a journal with a "hit list" detailing a scheme to kill two fellow students and his own sister.

Hernandez faces life in prison if convicted.

The confession followed other interviews with Garafalo in which Hernandez initially said he held Gough while he was stabbed by a gang member to whom Gough owned money. Hernandez admitted that was a lie after police found a bloody glove in his backpack.

He also said he had planned to kill another student, Andre Martin, 13, in the bathroom the day before but decided to do it later.

After attacking Gough, Hernandez said he made sure the boy was dead.

"I made sure by taking my knife and poking him in the face," Hernandez said, "and I checked his eyes and they were motionless."

Hernandez said he flushed a pair of latex gloves down the toilet, stuffed his knife and jacket in his backpack and went to a first-floor bathroom to wash. He returned to the second-floor bathroom to retrieve a ring. Other students saw him return, and they eventually led school and police officials to him.

A folding knife and another bloody latex glove was found in his backpack before his arrest, Garafalo said.

"Is there any specific reason why you planned this?" Garafalo asked.

"No, there is not," Hernandez said. But he added that Gough was the "easiest" student to kill compared to Martin.

At one point, he told Garafalo what he did was neither right nor wrong.